University of Minnesota Aerospace Engineering and MechanicsSpring 2003 Seminar Series

Viscosity in Solids

Abstract

After 50 years of intense effort, there is now a growing consensus
about the kinds of constitutive restrictions that are suitable for describing
the nonlinear elastic behavior of solids. It is time to consider seriously the
nature of the simplest dissipative mechanism for solids, that of (nonlinear)
viscosity. This lecture treats several surprising aspects of viscosity in
solids, which has a character very different from viscosity in fluids. These
include its roles in (i) preventing total compression, (ii) justifying
stability analyses, (iii) justifying asymptotic methods for dynamical problems,
and (iv) formulating invariant numerical schemes for mollifying shocks.